Prior to shipping, it is often desirable to secure a package with a strip of binding material. For this purpose, the package can be placed on a hooping device which automatically loops the binding material around the package, pulls it tightly about the package, then seals it. Machines for hooping or binding packages are known, for example, from DE 195 16 043. In these hoop-casing machines, a plastic strip is "shot" at high velocity into a strip guide by the strip conveyor device in order to form a loop around the packing unit. The end of the strip is collected and fixed by a strip holder. Then, the drive of the strip conveyor device which originally advanced the strip is reversed thereby pulling the loop tightly around the packing unit. The tension roller of the tensioning device, about whose peripheral surface the strip material is wound in a specific angular region, then is driven so that a tension force is exerted on the strip. In this tensed state, the loop is closed by means of a sealing device, such as an ultrasound bonding device or friction welding device. As a rule, during the welding process, a buttress plate is arranged between the strip and the welding head of the welding device, which is withdrawn before transporting the hooped packing unit. For this reason, it is necessary to apply a very high tension force to the strip before it is sealed by the sealing device so that a sufficient strip tension will prevail after the withdrawal of the buttress plate.
It is an object of the invention is to create a hoop-casing machine which can be utilized in a cost-favorable and reliable way and which makes possible the application of a high tension force on the strip loop to be sealed.